The subtext, I think, is that the West shouldn’t help Ukraine too much, because an actual victory would lead Russia to collapse into chaos.
Withdraw now. Problem solved.
… it’s taken 18 months to go from “This is the worst thing to happen in Europe for 75 years” to “We should perpetuate this as long as possible” 
Helsinki Areena in Ilmala has been empty and out of use since EU sanctions affecting its Russian owners made it impossible to pay them any money.
It’s a big facility, and it leaves a big hole in the capital’s sporting and music calendars. It has caused a problem for Jokerit, who had played in Russia’s KHL league and used the arena as their home venue, but will now return to the second-tier Mestis league for the 2023-24 season.
The ice hockey world championships were held at Tampere’s brand new arena for the last two years, with the capital unable to offer a suitable venue.
But there might now be a chance to take the arena back into use.
Ilta-Sanomat reports that the owners have failed to pay July’s instalment on the ground rent, and a reminder has been sent. If the bill is not paid after a further reminder, the city could start proceedings that might lead to new owners for the venue.
If the city began to recover the debt, it could eventually lead either to the cancellation of the rental agreement or sale of the asset to raise the unpaid rent.
The municipality could also make use of legislation to execute a compulsory acquisition of the hall, which mayor Juhana Vartiainen (NCP) says he wants to see in western — or Finnish — hands.
Oh and if you are wondering about Finnish baseball:
An interior decorator? What next, a comedian for president?
Russian propagandists are shocked by the fact that 46% of children in the temporarily occupied areas of the Zaporizhzhia region wish to study in the Ukrainian language. In their minds, this will lead to lower levels of education.
If I was them, I would be more worried about getting out of there to safety as quick as possible before Ukrainian defence forces reach them.
Multiple air defense missile systems deployed by Russia on two disputed islands off northern Japan in 2020 have been moved off the isles, an analysis of satellite images showed Thursday, raising the possibility that Moscow is repurposing weapons from its Far East for use in the war against Ukraine.
Juicy…
Russian channel ‘Thirtheenth’ run by Russian soldier Egor Guzenko fighting in the Kherson region, claims that the Department of Military Counterintelligence in Russia received the task to detain three well known Russian milbloggers. Among them is Romanov, who recently exposed all kinds of problems in the southern occupied regions in the Russian ranks.
Coincidentally…
the Russian president will hold a video call with Kyrgyzstani president Sadyr Japarov to “launch the construction of three general education schools with Russian-language instruction” in the cities of Bishkek, Batken, and Karakol.
